Gas discharge tube having glass seal. In some embodiments, a gas discharge tube can include an insulator layer having first and second sides and defining an opening, and first and second electrodes that cover the opening on the first and second sides of the insulator layer, respectively. The gas discharge tube can further include a first glass layer implemented between the first electrode and the first side of the insulator layer, and a second glass layer implemented between the second electrode and the second side of the insulator layer, such that the first and second glass layers provide a seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes.
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1. A gas discharge tube comprising:
an insulator layer having first and second sides and defining an opening;
first and second electrodes that cover the opening on the first and second sides of the insulator layer, respectively; and
a first glass layer implemented between the first electrode and the first side of the insulator layer, and a second glass layer implemented between the second electrode and the second side of the insulator layer, such that the first and second glass layers provide a seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes.
20. An electrical device comprising:
a gas discharge tube that includes an insulator layer having first and second sides and defining an opening, first and second electrodes that cover the opening on the first and second sides of the insulator layer, respectively, a first glass layer implemented between the first electrode and the first side of the insulator layer, and a second glass layer implemented between the second electrode and the second side of the insulator layer, such that the first and second glass layers provide a seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes; and
an electrical component electrically connected to the gas discharge tube.
19. An assembly of gas discharge tubes, comprising:
an insulator sheet having a plurality of units defined by respective lateral boundaries, such that each unit includes an insulator layer having first and second sides and defining an opening;
a pair of first and second electrodes positioned to cover the opening on the first and second sides of the insulator layer, respectively, of each unit; and
a first glass layer implemented between the first electrode and the first side of the insulator layer of each unit, and a second glass layer implemented between the second electrode and the second side of the insulator layer of the unit, such that the first and second glass layers provide a seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes of the respective unit.
3. The gas discharge tube of
4. The gas discharge tube of
5. The gas discharge tube of
6. The gas discharge tube of
8. The gas discharge tube of
9. The gas discharge tube of
10. The gas discharge tube of
11. The gas discharge tube of
12. The gas discharge tube of
13. The gas discharge tube of
14. The gas discharge tube of
15. The gas discharge tube of
16. The gas discharge tube of
18. The gas discharge tube of
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This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/326,105 filed May 20, 2021, entitled METHODS FOR FABRICATING GAS DISCHARGE TUBES, which is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/990,965 filed May 29, 2018, entitled GLASS SEALED GAS DISCHARGE TUBES, which claims priority to and the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/512,163 filed May 29, 2017, entitled GLASS SEALED GAS DISCHARGE TUBES, the benefits of the filing dates of which are hereby claimed and the disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
The present disclosure relates to gas discharge tubes and related devices and methods.
A gas discharge tube (GDT) is a device having a volume of gas confined between two electrodes. When sufficient potential difference exists between the two electrodes, the gas can ionize to provide a conductive medium to thereby yield a current in the form of an arc.
Based on such an operating principle, GDTs can be configured to provide reliable and effective protection for various applications during electrical disturbances. In some applications, GDTs can be preferable over semiconductor discharge devices due to properties such as low capacitance and low insertion/return losses. Accordingly, GDTs are frequently used in telecommunications and other applications where protection against electrical disturbances such as overvoltages is desired.
In some implementations, the present disclosure relates to a gas discharge tube (GDT) device that includes an insulator substrate having first and second sides and defining an opening, and a first electrode implemented to cover the opening on the first side of the insulator substrate, and a second electrode implemented to cover the opening on the second side of the insulator substrate. The GDT device further includes a first glass seal implemented between the first electrode and the first side of the insulator substrate, and a second glass seal implemented between the second electrode and the second side of the insulator substrate, such that the first and second glass seals provide a hermetic seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes.
In some embodiments, the insulator substrate can include a ceramic substrate. In some embodiments, each of the first and second electrode can include a copper material.
In some embodiments, each of the first and second glass seals can include a reflowed glass layer. The reflowed glass layer can include glass material from a glass layer that was on the respective side of the insulator substrate and the corresponding electrode.
In some embodiments, the GDT device can further include a gas or a gas mixture substantially contained within the chamber. In some embodiments, each of the first and second glass seal can include or be based on a silica compound. The silica compound can include, for example, silicon dioxide or quartz.
In some implementations, the present disclosure relates to a method for fabricating a gas discharge tube (GDT) device. The method includes providing or forming an insulator substrate having first and second sides and defining an opening, and applying a glass layer around the opening on each of the first and second sides of the insulator substrate. The method further includes providing or forming a first electrode and a second electrode, and applying a glass layer on each of the first and second electrodes. The method further includes forming an assembly of the first electrode on the first side of the insulator substrate and the second electrode on the second side of the insulator substrate, such that the glass layer on each electrode engages the glass layer on the corresponding side of the insulator substrate. The method further includes heating the assembly to melt the glass layer on each electrode and the glass layer on the corresponding side of the insulator substrate and yield a reflowed glass seal.
In some embodiments, the applying of the glass layer around the opening on each side of the insulator substrate, and the applying of the glass layer on each of the first and second electrodes can include a sintering step.
In some embodiments, the reflowed glass seal can provide a hermetic seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes. In some embodiments, the method can further include providing a desired gas during at least a portion of the heating such that the hermetically sealed chamber contains the desired gas.
In some embodiments, the method can further include cooling the assembly after the formation of the reflowed glass seal. In some embodiments, the GDT can be one of a plurality of GDTs joined by an insulator sheet that defines an array of insulator substrates. In some embodiments, the method can further include singulating the insulator sheet yield a plurality of individual GDTs. Such singulating can be performed after the cooling of the assembly.
In some implementations, the present disclosure relates to an assembly of gas discharge tubes (GDTs). The assembly can include an insulator sheet having a plurality of units defined by respective boundaries, with each unit including an insulator substrate having first and second sides and defining an opening. The assembly can further include a plurality of first electrodes, with each implemented to cover the opening of the respective unit on the first side of the insulator substrate, and a plurality of second electrodes, with each implemented to cover the opening of the respective unit on the second side of the insulator substrate. The assembly can further include a plurality of first glass seals, with each implemented between the first electrode and the first side of the insulator substrate of the respective unit, and a plurality of second glass seal, with each implemented between the second electrode and the second side of the insulator substrate of the respective unit, such that the first and second glass seals provide a hermetic seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes of the respective unit.
In some embodiments, the plurality of units can be arranged in an array. At least some of the boundaries can be configured to allow singulation of the array of units into separate singulated units.
In some implementations, the present disclosure relates to a method for fabricating gas discharge tube (GDT) devices. The method includes providing or forming an insulator sheet having a plurality of units defined by respective boundaries, with each unit including an insulator substrate having first and second sides and defining an opening. The method further includes applying a glass layer around the opening on the first side of the insulator substrate of each unit, and applying a glass layer around the opening on the second side of the insulator substrate of each unit. The method further includes providing or forming a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes, and applying a glass layer on each of the first electrodes and each of the second electrodes. The method further includes assembling the first electrodes on the first side of the insulator sheet and the second electrodes on the second side of the insulator sheet, such that the glass layer on each electrode engages the glass layer on the corresponding side of the insulator substrate of the respective unit.
In some embodiments, the method can further include heating the assembly to melt the glass layer on each electrode and the glass layer on the corresponding side of the insulator substrate of the respective unit and yield a reflowed glass seal that provides a hermetic seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes of the respective unit. The method can further include providing a desired gas during at least a portion of the heating such that each hermetically sealed chamber contains the desired gas. The method can further include cooling the assembly after the formation of the reflowed glass seal for each unit. The method can further include singulating the insulator sheet yield a plurality of individual GDTs.
In some implementations, the present disclosure relates to an electrical device having a gas discharge tube (GDT) that includes an insulator substrate having first and second sides and defining an opening, and a first electrode implemented to cover the opening on the first side of the insulator substrate, and a second electrode implemented to cover the opening on the second side of the insulator substrate. The GDT further includes a first glass seal implemented between the first electrode and the first side of the insulator substrate, and a second glass seal implemented between the second electrode and the second side of the insulator substrate, such that the first and second glass seals provide a hermetic seal for a chamber defined by the opening and the first and second electrodes. The electrical device further includes an electrical component electrically connected to the GDT.
In some embodiments, the electrical connection between the GDT and the electrical component can be configured such that the electrical device is a single packaged unit.
For purposes of summarizing the disclosure, certain aspects, advantages and novel features of the inventions have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.
The headings provided herein, if any, are for convenience only and do not necessarily affect the scope or meaning of the claimed invention.
Described herein are examples related to gas discharge tubes (GDTs) having glass seals. In some embodiments, a GDT can include an insulator layer such as a ceramic substrate, and such an insulator layer can define an opening that will become a sealed chamber. Such an opening can be covered with an electrode on each of the two sides of the insulator layer. A glass seal can be formed between each electrode and the corresponding surface of the insulator layer, at or near the perimeter of the opening, so as to form the sealed chamber. Various examples of how such a glass sealed GDT can be formed are described herein in greater detail.
In some embodiments, the glass layers 120a, 122a can be formed around the opening 101 of the ceramic substrate 102, be pre-formed in a shape of a perimeter of the opening 101 of the ceramic substrate 102, etc. Once positioned on the respective surfaces of the ceramic substrate 102, the glass layers 120a, 122a can be sintered in, for example, a furnace with appropriate temperature and atmospheric profile for an appropriate time. In the example of
In some embodiments, an emissive coating can be applied on the first side of the first electrode 114. In some embodiments, such an emissive coating can be positioned at or near the center portion of the first electrode 114.
In some embodiments, the assembly of
In
In some embodiments, a glass sealed GDT having one or more features as described herein can be configured to have different chamber shapes and/or different outer shapes. For example,
It will be understood that the shape of the sealed chamber, the shape of the electrodes, the shape of the glass seals, and/or the shape of the ceramic substrate can have other configurations that are different from the non-limiting examples of
In some embodiments, a plurality of glass sealed GDTs having one or more features as described herein can be produced together in an array format. For example,
In the example of
In the example of
In
In
In
In
In the example of
In the examples described in reference to
In
In
In the various examples described herein, an individual glass sealed GDT, whether fabricated individually, in an array, or some combination thereof, is depicted as having a single sealed chamber (e.g., 160 in 4C, 9D and 10E) with its own set of electrodes. It will be understood that in some embodiments, one or more features of the present disclosure can also be implemented in GDT devices having other configurations. For example, a GDT device can include a plurality of chambers, and such chambers can be glass sealed with one or more sets of electrodes. In another example, an electrical device can include a GDT having one or more features as described herein, and another component electrically coupled to the GDT. Among others, details concerning variations in GDT designs and packaging applications that can utilize one or more features of the present disclosure can be found in PCT Publication Number WO 2014/130838, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, and its disclosure is to be considered part of the specification of the present application.
For the purpose of description, it will be understood that in some embodiments, a glass part such as a glass layer or a glass seal can include, for example, a material based on or including a compound silica such as silicon dioxide or quartz.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” The word “coupled”, as generally used herein, refers to two or more elements that may be either directly connected, or connected by way of one or more intermediate elements. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.
The above detailed description of embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, while processes or blocks are presented in a given order, alternative embodiments may perform routines having steps, or employ systems having blocks, in a different order, and some processes or blocks may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/or modified. Each of these processes or blocks may be implemented in a variety of different ways. Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as being performed in series, these processes or blocks may instead be performed in parallel, or may be performed at different times.
The teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements and acts of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments.
While some embodiments of the inventions have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosure.
Bourns, Gordon L., Wang, Zuoyi, Shak, Peter
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